Fenerbahce Istanbul moved to the brink of the Champions League play-off round with a 2-0 victory over Sturm Graz in Wednesday's first-leg qualifier before more than 40,000 fans in Istanbul.
Brazilian midfielder Talisca opened the scoring in the 10th minute, and Mason Greenwood doubled the lead just before halftime. Greenwood, an English forward who joined Fenerbahce from Marseille this summer for 39 million euros, proved decisive as Sturm suffered their first defeat in 18 competitive matches. Under coach Ismail Kartal, Fenerbahce have now gone nine meetings against Austrian clubs without a loss.
Both sides reached this stage convincingly — Fenerbahce dispatched Poland's Gornik Zabrze in the second qualifying round, while Sturm beat Scotland's Hearts 6-0 on aggregate. The return leg kicks off Tuesday at 20:30 in Graz, where the Austrian side face a steep uphill task to reach the play-offs.